Statutory Guidelines of Child Support | |
Number of Children | Percent of Non-Custodial Parent's Net Income |
1 | 20% |
2 | 28% |
3 | 32% |
4 | 40% |
5 | 45% |
6 or more | 50% |
The State of Illinois has a pretty informative website for calculating child support and outlining the laws- http://www.ilchildsupport.com/calculating.html
Seems simple enough... until they don't pay it! Or they make claims of reduced income, fail to tell the Court about all that side work cash, pay late and of course... just plain lie. I've never really been able to wrap my head around what a parent must be thinking to try to "get out" of paying child support. Guess it doesn't matter, because whether they consider it a burden or not... we're going to make sure they pay it!
Step one... whether or not the other parent is paying as they should, is the court order that's been established for how much they are supposed to be paying based on the calculations above? Has there been a change of employment and you aren't really sure what they should be paying? Have you seen a tax return or pay stub in awhile?
If you feel that you aren't receiving what you should, time to go to Court and the Judge to take a look! As always, take a rational look at whether the amount you are disputing is going to be worth the time you will need to invest in going to court. In a case where your ex is paying what he's ordered to (even if it is outdated), you will be responsible for your own time, fees, etc.
Here's the process: 1) you are going to go file a Motion to Modify Child Support 2) serve a Notice of Motion to the other parent 3) file these documents at the court house 4) show up at court, most likely have a hearing date set and then 5) you'll go back to court again to present your case in a hearing. And depending on how things go, whether the other parent gets an attorney, etc... you could go back again, and again, and again...
To file the Motion to Modify Child Support, you need to first either write the Motion (you can easily do this on the computer and your state or county may have these forms available online... google it!) or you can go to the Clerk of Circuit Court and pick up a blank Motion form and write in your request. This Motion is your official request to the court to make a change in the amount of child support you are receiving. It should also state why you are making this request (ex. Due to an an increase in Joe Blow's net income....)
Next Step... you are going to file a Notice of Motion. This document will include the court date that the non-custodial parent will have to come to court to address the Motion to Modify Child Support. Again, sample at the bottom. To obtain a court date so the Judge can hear your motion, you can call ahead to see if they will schedule a date over the phone. Or you may have to leave the date and time blank until you go to file the papers at the courthouse, at which time the Clerk will assign a date and time. Typically, you will always be in front of the same Judge / Courtroom that finalized your divorce and handles all post-judgment issues.
When these two documents are completed, make lots of copies (four is good) and simply take them to the Court house and file them with the Clerk of Circuit Court. The Clerk will stamp your documents (make them stamp each copy) and will place one in your court file for the Judge to see. You are then responsible to send the defendant a copy of the Motion and the Notice of Motion. Check with the Clerk for local rules, but in McHenry County, IL, you can just mail them by regular mail to the known address of the defendant. But, to be safe, I always take the envelope into the post office, pay at the window and ask for a receipt (I'm a master at keeping a paper trail if I can.)
Now that those documents are mailed, you'll have to fill out a Proof of Service. On the court provided forms, the Proof of Service is on the back. If you have created your own forms, you will simply complete this page as another sheet. Before your court date comes around, you'll have to file this Proof of Service with the Clerk. You can even do it the day of court before you see the Judge. The Clerk will notarize it and file it for you. If the defendant doesn't show, this is proof for the Judge that they were notified of your intentions and given the opportunity to present their case.
That wasn't so hard! None of this should cost you anything to file (the $.44 stamp will cost you though.) By my estimates, you've already saved yourself at least $500 dollars in attorney's fees.
Samples: Here are 2 links to what I think are the most valuable tools I've found online. They give very detailed explanations and examples of this entire process. They are for the State of Illinois, but could be modified easily for use elsewhere.
http://www.law.siu.edu/selfhelp/info/childsupport/Modify%20Child%20Support.pdf
Sample forms
A couple of final notes:
... Be prepared to submit all your current financial info, the defendant will have to do this as well. Ask the Clerk about any Financial Affidavits that are required by your district. If you are in McHenry County, here is the link to the financial information you'll have to complete and file: http://www.co.mchenry.il.us/Departments/circuitclerk/PDFDocs/22_CV-AFF5_009.pdf
... Now that you are on your way to court... we're going to have to get prepared for a hearing, where you will be proving your case to the Judge. More on this coming soon.
... Put some thought into your options for receiving the child support payments. If you aren't already receiving your payments through the state disbursement unit, you might want to. It's really better for everyone and provides an excellent trail of payments. The money is withheld directly from the non-custodial parents paycheck and sent to the state to be deposited into your financial account. The paperwork seems overwhelming... but you can do this too! I'll write more on that later as well.
... If you think your ex isn't providing accurate information about their income, you're going to have to prove it. I recently discovered that you can easily subpoena their bank records to show any income that may be showing up in their bank account but not being reported. This has been the only way that I have been able to successfully show sidework, etc. I suppose you could hire a private investigator... but again, just how much of that investment will you really recover?
